buzich

Motobecane Track Carbon Fork 58 cm,$310, bought from Bikes Direct web site.
I just received the MOT D track CF, only open the package and expected parts quality and measure the weight of the bicycle. It is over 25 lb without the pedals and the seat for 58 cm frame! Seems that at rough estimate with pedals and the seat and water bottle stand it will be 28 lb. This is comparable with Walmart aluminum frame, $168, 29lb, same size and geometry, 24 gears, Denali road bike that I have!
It is not only the weight but the overall look and quality especially the heavy rims. Ready to return the bike ASAP, as it is still assembled for shipping from the sender.
Seems to whole web based business sales overpriced bikes which are done with cheap and low quality parts relying simply on fashion in bikes, not real brands and/or quality . Contacted customer service they asked for "discounted" $50 shipping it back. stay away!

UltraManDan

So you bought a Walmart bike online and are surprised that it is heavier than the Walmart bike you had already?

buzich

Bought the bike from Bikes Direct, if it is walmart similar bike costs $80-100 just usually needs bottom bracket replaced in a few months but this is way cheaper than buying a $310 fixie bike with basic low quality parts, even if you pay for a shop to change the bottom bracket, anyway most bikes need wheels truing, brakes adjustment etc

mihlbach

Just relax, you've got several pounds of packaging hanging on there. Bikes direct bikes are equivalent to bikes sold in bike shops, not Walmart. They have been around for a long time....there are thousands of online discussions and reviews about them. I've had a few myself. There is plenty of evidence you are getting a good bike for the money that is far nicer than a Walmart bike. You aren't gonna get a bike under 20lbs for that price anywhere.

Scrodzilla

Jeez...kooks do and say the strangest things.

nightfly

Really your cheap bike isn't high quality? Go figure.

buzich

well i measured the seat, the pedals, also i have bike stand on the other denali multi gear bike, aluminium one, also water bottle holder plus elastic band to keep stuff when travel. 32 mm tires originally changed to 28 mm in front kept the 32 at the back. it is all around 29-30 lb. if i remove bike stand, elastic band it wil weight below 28 lb, this bike in no way is going to be under 27 lb and it is not only the weight heavy rims as well. As for the value i own the Walmart denali for almost 3 years and have around 11 k miles on it i use bike very often for suburbs style of living. i have bottom bracket replaced, spokes, etc but this is normal i also have more of 1 k mile off road on horse trails. well i do not think this bike is a good value for the money you pay comparing for what you can get even for Walmart. As for the bikes direct they rely more on bike fashion, and looks to sell their bikes than real performance and value. this is my first impression.

buzich

Expensive do not equals always quality , as "cheap" could be better in given situation considering disruption of patents and new technology involved.The same goes for I phone or Polaroid sunglasses.

tyrion

That's a steel bike with un-butted (not thinner in the middle) tubing. Not surprising it weighs 28 lbs. You're not going to get a lightweight new steel bike for $310 anywhere.

Generally, an inexpensive aluminum bike will be lighter than steel bike at same price.

mtb_addict

Exchange it for a Mercier Kilo TT. I heard it's around 20 pounds.

P.s. Interesting...other people with Motobecane track is saying the stock bike weights around 21 pounds.

Is your scale broken?

seau grateau

The summer bike rush is the most wonderful time of the year.

REDMASTA

Look on the bright side you can do bicep curls with it while walking up hills.

buzich

The scale is not broken measured four other bikes in the house with the same scale recently, also measuring my luggage for the airport limits of 50 lb and it works very well with +_2oz differences on weight above 40 lb, and by the way the scale wasn't zeroed perfectly actually the wight is even higher with 12 oz so i would call it like real wight i measured today is around 25 lb and 10 oz, by the way the Bikes Direct freewheel "fixie" supposed to have very lightweight laser precision fork, this Kent Formula fixie has weight of 24 lb, approximate 4 lb lighter than this one and cost $106 just measured in the nearby Walmart store, the geometry of the frame of the Walmart bike is exactly like the Geometry of the Motobecane Aluminium frame fixie Record and Cafe in the BikesDirect web site Bikes direct seems as semi legit business to me. I looked at bikes direct "Cromoly" bikes online again most rims seem the same at the pics just they say it is a different brand. These guys seem to get cheap components from somewhere(the same as walmart) and present them as upper brand! They obviously know that look, trend, brand and fashion sells way better than quality and functionality. I will post a few more pics of the other bike in the house measured with the same scale. By the way walmart fixies are the same , the guys from Bikes direct just get the same and "brand" them not allowed to post links in this forum yet, so just paste and copy to google the words below and see by yourself, the same high rims, the same frame, only the gear ratio is like 44T to 18T
Kent-Thruster-700C-Men-s-Fixie-Bike-Black-Red/23810254#about-item

700c-Kent-ST-Formula-Men-s-Bike-Red/36877068#about-item

buzich

Here is what they described for the bike
"Carbon Straight Bladed Forks offer laser like precisino handling and comfortable vibration damping

Smooth rolling Aero Section, Custom Colored PRECISION bearing wheelsets make short work of that cross town traffic and you'll positively slice through that uptown headwind.
These Precision bearing wheels by themselves are worth about $250 at retail if purchased alone.

Extremely limited shipment of these beautiful track bikes.
Custom Butted and Tapered 4130 Chromoly Steel Track frames.
We are blowing these out for Motobecane as a special promotional deal. "

Judge by yourself!

TejanoTrackie 

This thread is awesome. So much win.

Leukybear 

You paid only $310 to have it shipped to your door, what else did you expect?

Not to mention, you're already passing judgement on the bike without even putting a leg over it. I would give it a chance before shipping it back.

While you're not going to get the "best" or "lightest" bike from bikesdirect, you are going to get value.
That $310 you spent went quite far considering what else you could've gotten for that negligible sum in the bike world. I've bought pedals that cost almost as much as that.

buzich

Well it is strange what kind of "quality" you get from bikes direct, what if it is the same as walmart's one, just painted and branded as another? how "Custom Butted and Tapered 4130 Chromoly Steel Track frame" will weight more for the same size plus "carbon fork", plus finner tires, 25 mm vs 32mm, plus stand, and suppose to be heavier rims?
look carefully in the walmart or target stores and try to judge/estimate by yourself.
You are saying you spend $300+ on pedals alone, and why is that? are you professional track biker?
How many miles of urban riding you get monthly ?
I get around 600 miles per month for the summer months, some in downtown Chicago some around its NW burbs, plus go on trails.

MikeOK

I've been very pleased with my Motobecane Le Champion that I bought from them. And I always get a prompt reply from them when I have a question. I did pay much more than $310 though.

Boondocksaints

**Pays for cheap bike.

** Complains "Why is this bike so cheap?"

buzich

To MikeOK: This could be true for upper end bikes in the sort of a few thousand dollars, though i doubt a professional biker will buy anything from Bikes Direct. With this I mean real proffesioanl one, not recreational amatuer. i have two friends that go on trails both are tuck drivers and bike when they have spare time, both have good bikes, but when you are +220lb it won't help a lot. they know that one of them was in really good shape years ago. so to make it short being content with a purchase not always means you got quality just it is psychology based human trait of us all. This is the way how marketing, branding works however to be honest i can not say anything about the quality of the bike you got from them , it could be a very good high quality bike!

buzich

To Boondocksaints:
bike is not cheap compared to entry level bikes sold at Walmart, Target($80--$100) and so. As i said expensive often doesn't mean better, most people i know even can not use 60 % of the bikes they have performance wise, often it is the biker not the bike
Tell a little about yourself what is your yearly bike mileage, where are your bike miles done? average speed ?

Leukybear 

With your claimed caliber of experience and exposure into the sport, you appear to be quite naive about this purchase and the situation in general.

I also ride road and mountain. Go look into their pricing, you'll be get a dose of sticker shock.
There are bikes other than track bikes and bikesdirect out there.

Thanks for asking about my mileage, on average across all my bikes I easily get 800 miles in each month.
More so these summer months with longer days.


This was last weekend:



Oh, I forgot to add, the pedals I was mentioning about are carbon.
As well as the pictured stem and handlebar above; *each* of which cost more than your bike.


With that aside, it appears that you appear to be pretty price conscious. You don't need to spend a lot to get a nice bike. You can always buy used nice components/ bikes off craigslist or ebay. But if you want new, bikesdirect bikes are not a terrible decision for the amount of "bang for the buck" you get. Obviously your dollar is going to go a lot further at bikesdirect than where I get my parts from.

MikeOK

Pro bikers don't buy any bikes, their team buys them

veganbikes

A typical day for Buzich: Goes to store buys can of Chef Boyardee expects it to taste like a real family italian restaurant. Then buys used Geo Metro from a guy on craigslist wonder why it isn't a Ferrari. Later goes to Revell Model site and wonders why they have a scale battleship and not a pretty lady.

buzich

To veganbikes: I cook my own food and have garden in the backyard, and you can go and buy all the branded food/ristorante you want Different people differnt preference